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Monday, November 19, 2012

Roll n Roaster Soccer Weekend

So, back to the pitch we go for our last game of the tournament. Since the team didn't win both of their games, or get enough bonus points, we are relegated to the punishment game at 1:50 PM. It is cloudy, breezy and cold.

Let's add insult to injury (not a real injury thankfully), as the game is delayed by 40+ minutes. We all checked out the hotel and made our way to the field an hour before start time. Some players and parents took flights down, and now have to make haste to go catch their return flight.

18 players to start the weekend, and we are down 4 players now. 3 driving to the BWI airport, another one who left Saturday because he also is the kicker for his HS football team. Why do we go three hundred miles away to soccer tournaments ?

This day in history "On this day in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln boards a train for Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania, to deliver a short speech at the dedication of a cemetery of
soldiers killed during the battle there on July 1 to July 3, 1863. The address
Lincoln gave in Gettysburg became one of the most famous speeches in American
history.
Lincoln had given much thought to what he wanted to say at Gettysburg,
but nearly missed his chance to say it. Shortly before the trip, Lincoln's son,
Tad, became ill with a fever. The president and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln were
no strangers to juvenile illness: They had already lost two sons to disease.
Prone to fits of hysteria, Mary Lincoln panicked when her husband prepared to
leave. However, Lincoln felt the opportunity to speak at Gettysburg and present
his defense of the war was too important to miss, so he boarded a train and
headed to Pennsylvania."

Well, back to soccer. I was asked to give out team pamphlets to college coaches. I was able to give out two pamphlets with team and individual player BIO's. This is a college showcase tournament. One went to the "Italian Federation' who were looking for that one special player to go to Switzerland to train and take a semester of education. The other to Howard CC. Yes, CC as in Community College. They are located near Baltimore and the only reason they came to the game was because they also coach the U16 team we are playing against. So in essence. NO real college opportunities at all.

The 3rd game makes it a few minutes into the 2nd half when one of our players is mauled from behind. The officials don't blow a whistle as the player lies on the ground face down on the cold Bermuda grass. Our two coaches run to his aide... the referee tells them he did not call them onto the field. The coaches say "We Don't Give a Shit".....30 seconds later, the game is called as a forfeit.

Now let's see how this pans out. While waiting for the players to come off the field, one of our parents reads through the college showcase book that should highlight the team and their players. ISA MC UNITED is NOT even in the showcase book.

My take on this is that my family and the other families spent $600-$700 dollars to go to this tournament, where no college coaches looked, and we got to play 2.5 games of soccer. A SUPREME WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. My hip and leg hurt like hell getting there, and had similar discomfort on my 6 hour drive on the way home.

We did stop for lunch at Subway, in a NJ rest stop for a Pumpkin Late, and then in Brooklyn for a roast beef with cheez sandwich. Some bonding with Kyle is always nice, and we will have more time like this soon when we play in the next College Showcase in December. I am so excited, it's on Long Island ! Let's hope they don't have to clear the snow off the fields as in years past.

Thank Goodness for Roll n Roaster

Photo of the day "Roll n Roaster Soccer Weekend"

P.S. Pete took some video of the games this weekend that I can hopefully glean something positive...Highlights of Kyle and the team playing that may prove useful when the boys contact college coaches.